CHICAGO (February 4, 2015) – United Working Families executive director Kristen Crowell issued the following statement in response to today's State of the State address by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
"Whether it’s Rahm Emanuel in Chicago or Bruce Rauner in Springfield, the lessons of the recent past are clear—cutting taxes for corporations and billionaires like Rauner, while asking the rest of us to pay higher taxes and cutting vital services, is a slap in the face to countless working families.
“We’ve seen this before: Regressive taxation. Privatization of public services. Fire sales of public resources to private interests. Self-dealing deregulation. Charter-mania and a war on public education. Attacks on the rights to collective bargaining. Lip service to a real living wage, and only in exchange for giveaways to big corporations.
“This agenda has been tried, and tested, and it’s failed.
“For someone who spends more per year on wine than other Illinois families spend on EVERYTHING, it’s outrageous to hear Rauner invoke other wealthy CEOs to justify his trickle-down agenda, the same agenda adopted by his wine-sipping partner Rahm Emanuel.
“It’s time to get serious about joining the rest of America in a fair economic recovery and to create real living wage jobs for working families across Illinois. The Rauner-Rahm vision laid out today represents exactly the wrong approach. Illinois' working families deserve better."
United Working Families was formed in coalition with the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Action Now and Grassroots Illinois Action in 2014 to recruit, train and support candidates running on a progressive platform, including strengthening public education and advocating for public investment in all Chicago’s neighborhoods and beyond.
